Colorado football: Buffs looking forward to challenging No. 2 Oregon

MacIntyre, Richardson excited to face 'best in the West'

The Oregon football team takes the field at Autzen Stadium before playing Cal on Saturday.
(
Don Ryan
)

Fifteen years ago, Mike MacIntyre was the defensive coordinator at Temple.

The Owls suffered an embarrassing home loss to Division I-AA William & Mary and then got blown out at home by West Virginia to fall to 0-6.

Heading into a road game against No. 14 Virginia Tech, Temple carried an eight-game losing streak and was 0-26 all-time in Big East road games. Add in the fact that they had a freshman quarterback making his first start, and it was no wonder the Owls were 35-point underdogs.

At the end of the game, however, Temple walked out of town with a stunning 28-24 victory.

"Anything can happen on any given Saturday," MacIntyre said. "I've seen it before personally, so I know it can be done."

Now in his first season as the head coach at Colorado, MacIntyre faces a task this week that seems as daunting, if not more so, than the one Temple faced 15 years ago. CU (2-1, 0-1 Pac-12) will host No. 2 Oregon (4-0, 1-0) on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Folsom Field.

Even with a new coach -- former CU offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich -- Oregon is rolling along in its usual dominating fashion. The Ducks have scored at least 55 points in every game and have outscored their four opponents by a combined score of 239-43.

MacIntyre has admitted that Oregon seems to be playing at a level above anyone else in the Pac-12. So, how do the Buffs, coming off a 44-17 loss at Oregon State, compete?

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"Wow," he said. "Get on the field and play our hearts out, and we'll see how that goes."

For many of Oregon's opponents in recent years, it hasn't gone well at all. That includes CU, which is 0-2 against the Ducks since joining the Pac-12, losing 45-2 in 2011 and 70-14 a year ago.

MacIntyre and junior receiver Paul Richardson are excited about this game, however.

"Oregon is extremely good," MacIntyre said. "It's going to be a lot of fun for our kids. You always want to play against the best and they're the best in the West, there's no doubt about it. It'll be a lot of fun for us to play them."

Richardson has never been on the field against the Ducks. He was dealing with knee injuries both times the teams have met.

"I think it'll be good," said Richardson, who has 26 catches for 487 yards this season. "They have arguably the best corner in the country (Ifo Ekpre-Olomu) and then they have two other corners that they rotate in that are really good as well. It'll be a test for our receivers."

It's going to be a challenge for the whole team, but it's one Richardson is looking forward to taking on.

"I think it's going to be a good test for our defense," Richardson said. "It's going to be on our offense to hold onto the ball and keep their offense off the field as much as we can and it should be a good one."

Much like Temple did 15 years ago, the Buffs are looking for the type of upset that will be remembered for a long time.

"This is a game for each position to go out there and try to make a name for themselves and for our team to try to make a name for ourselves," Richardson said. "I know we're all looking forward to it."

MacIntyre knows the task ahead is a daunting one, but he said it's not impossible.

"It's a game you've got to be on your Ps and Qs and you've got to play extremely hard and hopefully we will," MacIntyre said. "We've got to go get ready to play and go play them. We plan on winning the game. That's what we plan on doing. They plan on winning the game, too.

"Both teams better plan on winning, so we're excited about the game."

Notable

On Monday, CU announced that it's Oct. 12 game at Arizona State will kick off at 8 p.m. MDT. The game will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Networks.

Notable: Helfrich was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Colorado from 2006-08, working under former CU head coach Dan Hawkins. ... The Ducks are 40-4 since the start of the 2010 season, with three of the losses coming by three points. ... Oregon has scored at least 50 points in 11 of its last 17 games and has scored at least 42 points in 15 of those 17 games. ... The Ducks have hit the 200-yard rushing mark in 28 of their last 30 games. They finished with 180 and 198 yards in the other two games. ... Mariota has completed just 56.1 percent of his passes, but has 1,003 yards, nine touchdowns and no interceptions. ... Addison has returned two punts for touchdowns and also has two receiving touchdowns.